“U.S. stocks climbed Monday as Wall Street looked past political turmoil in Italy, holding out hope for an agreement to avert automatic tax hikes and spending cuts in the United States,” Kate Gibson reports for MarketWatch.

“The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 31.83 points, or 0.2%, to 13,186.96,” Gibson reports. “The S&P 500 Index rose 1.1 point to 1,419.17, with materials advancing the most and consumer discretionary the heaviest weight among its 10 major sectors… The Nasdaq Composite Index added 6.98 points, or 0.2%, to 2,985.01.”

“Shares of Apple Inc. declined 0.7% after Jefferies Group Inc. reduced its share-price outlook,” Gibson reports. “Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met at the White House to talk about how to avert the billions in tax hikes and spending cuts set to start in the new year. Both sides declined to offer any details about the discussion, but issued duplicate statements, saying ‘the lines of communication remain open.'”

Gibson reports, “‘The fact that John Boehner went to the White House Sunday is a positive sign,’ said Ron Florance, managing director of investment strategy at Wells Fargo, who also found heartening Boehner’s decision to not call a news conference after the meeting. ‘It’s not great for volatility traders but it is great for investors,’ Florance added. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the U.S. economy would drop into a recession in the first half of the new year if a deal is not reached.”

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17 Comments

Just a thought if I may. Those two individuals are not accountants or economists, so what do they know about balancing books let alone a Country’s economy? This is a job best left to the respective treasury departments spokesmen/women to sort out and then to present it to these two people to ratify. Am I being esoteric in my expectations?

Republicans might as well throw in the low-tax towel and let the Democrats own whatever happens afterward.

If they fight they will only be blamed for disrupting the economy, and if we go over the cliff, by February the Dems will
offer a tax cut for the 40% of Americans that pay taxes and make under $250,000 (I’m not counting all the millions that pay NO taxes) so either way, it’s over for a lower tax rate.

Addendum: When it is finally realized that this will not generate near enough revenue, more rates will go up.
Get out of the way and let the Left own this!!!!

Your comment reflects your thinking..disorganized and un-informed. What has Kenya got to do with it? Is Kenya a communist Country? As for the rest of your comment, it is as warped as your mind is. This is a tech blog not a dating site.
When will YOU MDN put a stop to the politicization of your forum? When will you display bloggers names but hide their post with guidance that the post has been hidden for its impropriety but if you wish to read it click show post??? I do not need to have to read such tripe as displayed by someone who is not even prepared to taken a half decent pseudonym.

Talk about incoherent thinking! That’s an old expression. But then, your Dear Leader is all about “new traditions,” so that’s one way to do it, pretend something makes no sense. You commies, it’d be so much more fun to mock you if you had at least half a brain!

Do I live in America? Aaah! the beauty of the Internet. Ps I do indeed have half a brain! depending on what I am doing, it will be either the left brain working or the right one working, but never both at the same time.